the story from chief congressional correspondent, dana bash. >> reporter: for dianne feinstein, it's personal. >> i became mayor as a product of assassination. both mayor mosconi and supervisor harvey milk have been shot and killed. >> reporter: the death of her colleagues including harvey milk, the first openly gay public official in america, was so traumatic, she rarely discusses it. you were someone who was very close to a tragic shooting. but here at the launch of her push to renew the assault weapons ban, she answered in graphic detail. >> i was the one that found supervisor milk's body. and i was the one to put a finger in a bullet hole, trying to get a pulse. once you have been through one of these episodes, once you see what the crime scene is like, it isn't like the movies. it changes your view of weapons. >> reporter: she put on an elaborate event, even getting special permission from d.c. and capitol police to display ten different types of assault weapons, including an ar-15, the type of weapon the murderer used to kill children in newtown. >> the assault weapons were des